fit their needs — such as the ability to
plot all the cities in the world they have
visited on a map — and proudly display
them on their profiles.

Applications sponsored by companies
come with the added benefit of having
the company name linked directly on
application. Once on the application
home page, users have exposure to the
company’s Web site, bringing in higher
traffic and exposure for the companies.

One such company reaping the benefits of this niche marketing technique is
TravBuddy.com. Eric Bjorndahl created
the site during his senior year of college
while studying abroad in Rome. While
he admits to having a great time during
his travels, he says he found it difficult to
meet with other travelers to gain advice.

Working with his older brother,
Bjorndahl launched TravBuddy and has
since seen it become one of the most
popular hubs on the Internet for travelers
to blog and discuss their love of travel-

Travelzoo Demographics

❯ 73 percent have a valid passport
(U.S. average — 20 percent)

❯ 63 percent are female

❯ 37 percent are male

❯ 62 percent are between the ages
of 25-54

❯ 65 percent are married

❯ 75 percent have a college degree

❯ 34 percent have a post-graduate
degree

ing. Combining Google Maps technology
with a bit of creative programming, the
TravBuddy application gives Facebook
users the ability to pinpoint the countries they’ve traveled to and share with
their friends. Since being launched less
than a year ago, the application has been
accessed by nearly 9,000 active daily users.

“I selected TravBuddy because it was

one of the most popular and active applications on Facebook,” says TravBuddy
user Stephen Devlin from the Cape
Coral, Fla., network. “Mapping all the
places I have visited makes me realize
there’s so much I have not yet seen. It has
encouraged me to travel more.”

What Does the Future Hold?

As companies like Travelzoo and
Facebook continue to raise the bar
on interacting with customers, the
innovations in direct response travel
marketing are never ending.

Travelzoo is already toying with the
idea of making interactive advertisements
more personalized with each subscriber.

Facebook’s API is still in its infancy
and has much room to grow. Facebook
is currently developing video streaming
abilities and widening up its ad content
allowance. This, combined with its application programs, could create some new
innovation that has yet to be explored. ■